Thursday, 10 December 2015

CROSSING THE T's: REUSING TOY PARTS IN THE T IN A CIRCLE FACTORY

Yesterday I looked at T in a Circles pilot reuse. Today I'll look at how they reused other toy parts in their space toy range.

DOME:

Used for both the Space Vehicle and Moon Bus. Transparency varied.

RED REAR ENGINE TRIO:

Again, found on both the Space Vehicle and Moon Bus.

MYSTERY ACTION WHEEL UNIT:

Circular unit with two black wheels found on the Space Vehicle, Moon Bus, Moon Prospector, New Flying Saucer and Spacecraft.

BATTERY COVER AND TEAR DROP FASTENER:

Cover found on the Space Vehicle, Moon Bus and Spacecraft [colours varied]. Spacecraft had different fastener.

LOLLIPOP-SHAPED ON OFF SWITCH:

White on-off switch found on the Moon Prospector, Moon Bus, New Flying Saucer and Spacecraft.

DOME INTERIOR COLOUR PLATE:

The plastic tri-coloured plate, which created a light show in the dome, turned up in the Space Vehicle and the Moon Bus, as pictured in these bundles of spare parts - top: Space Vehicle, Bottom: Moon Bus and other Project SWORD.

PLASTIC COLOURED LIGHTS:

The green translucent studs on the Space Vehicle [shown in close up] went on to appear around the Moon Prospector collar in both green and red.

There could well be other parts that were reused in the T in a Circle toy factory in Hong Kong: battery cases, radar dishes, wheels and internal parts. Four years ago I blogged about at least one instance where even one of their toy boxes was cut up and used as a kind of gasket inside a JR21 New Flying Saucer

I haven't touched on cross-fertilisation with other toy companies as I've run out of steam. We know that several of the T in a Circle toys - Moon Bus, Prospector and New Flying Saucer - migrated wholesale across to JR-Century 21 so there could be many other instances of partial reuse and recycling as seen in the case of the twin pilots.

One of the most intriguing examples of hyridisation I've come across was featured on the blog years ago by Ferryman. It concerned the fabulously rare Century 21 Toys Atomic Submarine Aircraft Carrier.

It would appear that it included battery propeller units made by T in a Circle no less!

2 comments:

i have one of these but it doesnt have the same stamp ..mine has a triangle then what appears to be a banner and then writing made in hong kong .. i only have 1 missile not the boat ...i am looking to see if theres anyone interested in purchasing it .